Aurora Charbonneau, 2, appears to be consumed by her feathery costume as she took a break from the parade.
(Globe Staff Photo / Suzanne Kreiter)
For ducks at Public Garden, a way is made
Aurora Charbonneau, 2, appears to be consumed by her feathery costume as she took a break from the parade.
(Globe Staff Photo / Suzanne Kreiter)
Bostonians large and small marched through part of Beacon Hill yesterday afternoon, clad in duck costumes to celebrate the children's book "Make Way for Ducklings" by Robert McCloskey. Children dragged wagons decorated as nests and dogs wore yellow-winged outfits as crowds retraced the route of the Mallard family in the Boston-based story.
The event began at noon, but Henry Lee, president of Friends of the Public Garden Inc., which organized the march, said people congregated on the Boston Common beforehand for a reading from the book and photographs.
"I think [McCloskey] would have been enormously pleased," he said.
After the reading, the group gathered at the Shaw Memorial in front of the State House and began marching. The line of faux ducks led by the Harvard University marching band paraded down Mount Vernon Street and onto Charles Street before filtering into the Boston Public Garden. After the half-hour promenade, the crowd was greeted by Mayor Thomas M. Menino and his wife, Angela, in the Public Garden.
Lee said the event has been held for more than 25 years, and the Friends of the Public Garden took it over after the Organization of Historic Neighborhoods closed four years ago. Families who participate pay $25 each; proceeds go to the Public Garden.
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